We are the champions?

Refresh my memory. I have this vague, hazy notion that way, way back in June, the Spurs actually WON Game 7 — and the NBA championship — over the Detroit Pistons.

Really? They did? Then would somebody PLEASE tell the league and the TV networks?

It was bad enough that the Spurs had to play the Pistons on the road on Christmas Day. And at noon, no less. (Or maybe it was 11:30. All I know is, we had barely finished opening presents, and they were going at it.) Any wonder the Spurs scored a whopping eight points in the first quarter and ran out of gas at the end?

Then, Game 1 of their eagerly anticipated Texas Shootout with Dallas was relegated to opening-act status Sunday (another noon tipoff) for the kickoff of the Pistons vs. The Golden Child, LeBron James (and, oh yeah, the Cleveland Cavaliers). So it was poetic justice that the Spurs-Mavs game went down to the final horn, while the alleged marquee game turned into a case of Golden Child abuse and was over at halftime. Take that, ABC.

The order is reversed for Tuesday’s TNT Game 2 doubleheader, which means Spurs-Mavs is schedule to tip off at 8:30. Let’s see a show of hands. How many think it’ll actually start at 8:30?

Oh, wait. If the Pistons-Cavs series continues like Game 1, the Spurs might get to start EARLY. I hate rooting for the Pistons, but some sleep on a worknight would be nice for a change.

NOTE: Spurs fans may come to hate Barney, the lovable purple dinosaur whose roadshow will be at the Freeman Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Although the show will be over before tipoff, incoming Spurs traffic to the AT&T Center may be snarled a bit by exiting parents and their Barney fans.